Crowned a “Supermom” by the Arab press, Manal Tamimi, 45, a pro-terrorist Palestinian activist, has recently lost her status as a UN “human rights defender” because of antisemitic tweets that accuse Jews of drinking Palestinian blood. On September, 2015, this post appeared on Tamimi’s Twitter feed: “Vampire zionist celebrating their Kebore Day [Yom Kippur] by drinking Palestinian bloods, yes our blood is pure and delicious but it will kill u at the end” (September, 2015).
Tamimi’s tweet promotes the classic blood libel, which goes back centuries, that Jews murder non-Jews, especially children, so that Jews can use their blood to bake matzos for Passover, and re-enact the crucifixion of Christ. The tweet is part of a series of antisemitic tweets that Tamimi posted starting in 2015. The married mother of four calls for both violence against Jews, “Zio roaches”, and the destruction of Israel. The tweets are accompanied by vile drawings that pay tribute to Nazi era political cartoons.
“I do hate Israel, i do hate zionism, i wish a third Intefada [Intifada] coming soon and people rais [raise] up and kills all these zionist settlers everywhere”. (August 1, 2015)
“—I have a very good Jew friends, I hate Zionists & I’m not denying that, Zionism, KKK and ISIS R all the same to me” (August 20, 2017)
“The much needed button–delete Israel” [referring to nuclear holocaust] (October 5, 2015)
“You will never make peace with vampires because the taste of your blood will always attract them” (March 31, 2016)
However, it is significant that Tamimi, who is constantly calling for the expulsion of Jews from Israel, only lost her honored title because of an official complaint about her tweets that was filed by the NGO Monitor, Jerusalem, a watchdog that tracks the activities of human rights groups. A letter of protest was delivered to the UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights. In response to NGO Monitor’s complaint, Tamimi, the leader of the Popular Resistance Organization Committee, was removed from the list of “human rights defenders” that had been compiled by S. Michael Lynk, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the disputed territories.
Earlier this year, Tamimi, who runs an online news service, the Tamimi Press, spoke at a EU financed conference that was held in Barcelona, Spain. The topic was “preventing violent extremism”.
Her participation in that conference strains the boundaries of reason. Every Friday, for the past 7 1/2 years, Tamimi, her husband, Bilal, and their followers, have marched from their village of Nabi Saleh, to the Jewish community of Halamish, where the group hurls rocks at the Israeli soldiers, who are guarding the town. On July 21, 2017, in Halamish, three members of the Salomon family were stabbed to death by Palestinian terrorists while they were having their Shabbat dinner. It is important to note that Tamimi has not publicly condemned the murders, and, in fact, sees nothing wrong with stone throwing. According to a report in the Algemeiner, “the Tamimi’s contend that the soldiers’ arrests of rock throwers constitutes persecution of the residents of Nabi Saleh”.
It is a given, however, that a thrown stone is as dangerous as a gun. In recent years at least 15 Israelis have been murdered as a result of stone throwing, and countless others have been injured. Given Tamimi’s mindset, it is deeply troubling that she was invited to appear at a conference that condemns violence. And the fact that this conference was funded by the European Union is of great concern. NGO Monitor President Gerald Steinberg told the Algemeiner, “There is no excuse for funding Jew hatred in the guise of promoting peace—or for giving antisemites such as Tamimi the status of ‘human rights defenders'”.
Steinberg is highly critical of the actions of both the UN and the EU: “the disconnect between noble objectives and immoral actions has been clear for many years”. Steinberg believes that “full transparency and oversight for the massive sums [of money] going to radical NGOs is crucial so that this behavior is halted”. However, unlike the UN, Amnesty International, has embraced Tamimi’s cause, despite her blatant antisemitism. According to the Algemeiner, “Amnesty has declared that Tamimi’s village, Nabi Saleh, is a “community-at-risk”.
Amnesty researcher, Saleh Hijazi, who has worked in the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) Ministry of Planning has publicly stated: “We need to tell the Israeli authorities: enough – you are no longer facing a tiny village on a small hill. You now have the entire Amnesty movement to reckon with”. According to the Algemeiner, in an undated essay published in the Huffington Post, Edith Garwood, Amnesty International USA’s specialist on Israel, the disputed territories and the PA, wrote that Tamimi’s group from Nabi Saleh “face frequent violent repression from the Israeli army just for practicing their human rights to peacefully expression their opposition” to Israel. Garwood believes that “even in cases where the protesters have thrown stones—these have posed little or no serious risk” to the targeted Israelis.
The fact that Garwood, a prominent Amnesty International official, can so easily disregard Tamimi’s virulent antisemitic tweets, while downplaying the connection between stone throwing and fatal traumatic brain injuries, should send up a red flag to the international community. Amnesty International fails on all levels, as a social justice organization, when its contempt for Israel is so great, that it whitewashes stone throwing as a form of legitimate peaceful protest. What Amnesty International’s position regarding Tamimi’s remark that Jews are blood-drinking vampires is unknown.
However, what is known is that, in 2016, government officials banned Tamimi from entering the UK. The British Home Office has refused to explain why Tamimi was denied a visa.